This article discusses the ways in which museums can serve people with all types of disabilities,beyond making doorways, entrances, elevators, parking, and restrooms accessible. It outlines how museums can improve intellectual access to all.
In this article, Christine L. Brandenburg, of Rice University's Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning, discusses her research of the use of computer technology in children's museums. Bradenburg focuses on the research methods used to address how and why visitors use computer technology in children's museums. The first section of the article presents the research methods, placing them in the context of the naturalistic inquiry design of the research. The second section discusses the research methods with respect to visitor studies and to studies of computer technology in museums.
This article discusses an evaluation study led by a design team for the new Technology Museum of Thessaloniki in Greece. They investigated the wishes, interests, preferences and needs of certain museum visitor groups: individual visitors and educators. Findings from the study are summarized in this paper.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Anastasia ValavanidouKleoniki Nikonanou
This article discusses notion of "bimodal" visitation patterns by museum visitors, in which people are either interested or not in the material presented. The authors argue that this no-time, lots-of-time notion is misleading, and present data that contradicts its alleged commonness. They also discuss how timing data is and can be used by exhibit developers to improve their exhibits.
In February 2013, the Atomic Heritage Foundation (AHF) brought together historians, sociologists and other scholars, as well as museum directors and thought leaders from the informal science education field to engage in a two-day discussion to explore ways to engage the public in the topic of the development of the atomic bomb in the context of history, society and culture. The workshop, titled "Transforming the Relationship Between Science and Society: The Manhattan Project and Its Legacy," had as its overarching goal to identify how the Manhattan Project might best be interpreted in a
In this article, Kris Morrissey of the Michigan State University Museum draws parallels between the events of September 11, 2001 and Richard E. Crabbe's novel "Suspension." Morrissey goes on to question the role of museums during such a time of tragedy and characterizes museum professionals as "builders of bridges"
This article discusses one of many studies conducted at Colonial Williamsburg for the purpose of strengthening the learning experience for families. The study was conducted in 1993-1996 and continues to match what current audiences tell staff year after year. The article includes a brief description of the methodology used a discussion of what researchers learned and how interpreters can apply these lessons to their daily interpretations.
This article transcribes remarks given by Willard L. Boyd at the Visitor Studies Association Annual Conference in Orlando on August 3, 2001. Boyd discusses the complexities and challenges of museums as centers of public learning based on his experience as the director of the Field Museum in Chicago.
This article discusses a study that investigated whether visitor or visit variables were the best predictors of satisfaction, and whether the predictive power of these variables would differ in different types of visitor institutions. Also studied was whether higher ratings of satisfaction would result in specific visitor intentions. Data were collected from adult visitors at three different institutions: Denver Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and Colorado's Ocean Journey, an aquarium.
This article discusses the preliminary resistance to labels and then the eventual inclusion of labeling in the "Ice Age Exhibit" at the Cincinnati Museum Center's Museum of Natural HIstory & Science. It includes findings from visitor studies that evaluated the effectiveness of the new labeling strategies incorporated into the immersive exhibit.
This article discusses findings from an evaluation conducted by researchers at the Liberty Science Center in planning for a new exhibition about skyscrapers. Members of the exhibition team examined if and how the public's perceptions of skyscrapers changed as a result of the World Trade Center collapse and the media attention towards skyscrapers. Evaluators compared the results of this study to data collected prior to 9/11 as part of the exhibit's front-end evaluation.
In this essay, researchers from King's College London, Work, Interaction and Technology Research Group, discuss a particular approach to the analysis of social interaction in museums and galleries, focusing on video-based field studies. The authors also give a few suggestions as to why it might be important to take verbal and physical interactions more seriously when designing, developing and evaluating exhibits and exhibitions.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dirk vom LehnChristian HeathJon Hindmarsh